Portland City Council next week will consider approval of a disposition and development agreement for Block 49, where an Ankrom Moisan Associated Architects-designed, mixed-use project is slated to be built. Once that agreement is approved by the council, the project team will be able to finish assembling private financing for the project, Van Vliet said. REACH Community Development will develop the project and relocate its offices and 50 employees to the building’s ground floor.

“We’re not at ground breaking yet, but this is an important step,” Van Vliet said. “We are moving as quickly as we can to start construction in April.”

The building will be 6 stories tall. Out of 209 housing units there, 42 will be leased to homeless veterans. The remaining units will be available to people making between 0 and 50 percent of the median family income.

2 comments

This is good news for the South Waterfront. I only worry that we’re coming up a little short in terms of density with a six-story building. I appreciate the vision of designing this as an urban skyscraper district. It means that someone realized Portland is growing and the distinction between downtown and SoWa will disappear soon.
Once you build something, whether it’s this or the Matisse, you can’t add on floors in the future. We should carefully consider whether a squat building is in the best interest for a skyscraper district. And visionary planners, stick to your guns. You know you’re right, just as we were right about the tram: push on through controversy and history will look favorably on you.

This is an important development in terms of increasing the overall housing stock that is accessible and/both affordable for veterans, who served our country, and returned home to a poor economy, substandard or lack of housing in general, as well as a need for adequate medical care (including mental). I look forward to this Spring, as we move forward with housing folks and connecting them to the resources that are necessary for sustainability and self-sufficiency.